Farmers Movement Archive

Minister’s son arrested after questioning over Lakhimpur

Lucknow/Lakhimpur KheriThe Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday arrested Ashish Mishra, son of junior home minister Ajay Kumar Mishra, for his role in the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri violence after several hours of questioning, officials said a day after the Supreme Court pulled up the state government for its handling of the case. Confirming the arrest, state police headquarters director general of police Upendra Agarwal said that Ashish Mishra was arrested after he “failed to cooperate”. “He was arrested after he failed to cooperate in the interrogation. He could not inform or validate on various points regarding his whereabouts at the time of the incident on the day of the incident. And we will try to get information after getting him on police remand,” he said. Ashish Mishra, who has been charged with murder, appeared before police at around 10.30am. He was interrogated till late in the night. The minister’s son was accompanied by his counsel, Awadesh Singh and Yogesh Verma, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Lakhimpur Sadar, to the crime branch office in Lakhimpur reserve police lines, officials said, requesting anonymity. With heavy media presence in the area, the three were escorted to the crime branch office from a separate entrance, the people said. Security personnel were deployed in strength and barricades were put up in the area.The nine-member panel, headed by Agarwal, interrogated Ashish Mishra from a list of 40 questions, including his location at the time of the violence, a police officer said.Ashish Mishra presented multiple affidavits through his lawyer, the officer said. Police have seized Ashish Mishra’s phone after the closed door proceedings, he said. Earlier on Friday, Uttar Pradesh police issued a second notice to Ashish Mishra, hours after he failed to appear for questioning in response to the first summons. Photos of police pasting the second notice outside the minister’s Lakhimpur Kheri residence were widely shared on social media. The notices were issued under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), said officials. According to the notices, Ashish Mishra was asked to appear in person. As the questioning continued till evening, the Union minister was huddled with lawyers at BJP’s office in the district, where a large number of party workers gathered and shouted slogans in his support. Violence broke out on Sunday afternoon after a vehicle, reportedly owned by Ajay Kumar Mishra, mowed down protesters while they were returning from a demonstration in Tikunia village. Farmers allege that Ashish Mishra was in the lead car that ran over people. The junior home minister and his son deny the allegation. They have alleged that farmers pelted the car with stones that led the driver losing control of the vehicle. They also accuse the protesters of lynching two BJP workers and the car’s driver. A local journalist was also killed.Police also conducted raids at several places in Lucknow and Lakhimpur Kheri on Saturday in search of former Union minister Akhilesh Das’s nephew, Ankit Das. There are reports that Das was travelling in the same car as Ashish Mishra at the time of the incident. His driver has been taken into custody. On Thursday, Uttar Pradesh police made the first arrests in the case by detaining two people, Luvkush Rana and Ashish Pandey. Both are said to be associates of Ashish Mishra. Opposition and farm leaders, meanwhile, kept up their attack against the ruling BJP during the day, and sought Ajay Kumar Mishra’s resignation. Yogendra Yadav, who has been at the forefront of the agitation against the three central farm laws since last year, said Ajay Kumar Mishra should be “dismissed from the cabinet and arrested on charges of spreading disharmony, murder and conspiracy. He is also protecting the culprits in the case”.“His son Ashish Mishra and his associates, who have been accused of murder, should be arrested immediately,” he said at a media briefing in New Delhi.Samajwadi Party leader and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav hit out at the government, saying it has “pulverised the Constitution”. “The way farmers were crushed, now preparations are on to crush the laws. This government has pulverised the Constitution. You have seen how a vehicle ran over farmers who were fighting for their rights. The guilty persons are yet to be caught. Instead of giving summons, a flower bouquet is being given. The summon is only in name, and (in reality) ‘samman’ (honour) is given,” he told reporters in Lucknow.Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury drew a parallel between the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and the Mumbai cruise ship raid case, saying that the “of arresting the son of @iamsrk who is allegedly a drug-addicted kid, was conspicuously absent in the case of arresting the son of Mr Ajay Mishra, MoS Home affairs”. The Narcotics Control Bureau has arrested actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan for alleged possession of contraband DRUGS at a party on a cruise. “The alacrity of arresting the son of @iamsrk who is allegedly a drug-addicted kid, was conspicuously absent in the case of arresting the son of Mr Ajay Mishra, MoS Home affairs,” Chowdhury tweeted. “It is intriguing as the wayward kid of Mr Mishra is alleged to have mowed down by the self-driven car in a savage manner to the innocuous protesting farmers. #LakhimpurKheri,” he said. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a collective of farmer organisation leading the agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws, alleged that the violence was a “pre-planned conspiracy”.Farmer leader Darshan Pal said, “Union minister Ajay Mishra made some remarks during an event in Lakhimpur Kheri on September 25. It forms the background of what happened on October 3. The video is on Facebook. This incident is a terror attack and part of a pre-panned conspiracy.”(With agency inputs)

Hindustan Times

10-10-2021

India